Teens were chased by Uniondale pit bulls

Pit bulls on the loose in Uniondale on Friday chased teens and responding officers -- a second incident involving the breed this week after Tuesday's pit bull attacks of four people in Lakeview, authorities said.

Police said they were called at 5:29 p.m. about at least two pit bulls roaming the area and attacking people by Fisher and Planders avenues.

The dogs had gotten loose from a fenced-yard in a nearby home and were chasing a group of children between the ages of 13 and 14, a police spokesman said.

When officers arrived, the dogs charged them, he said. An officer fired at one dog but missed, he said.

The pit bulls then ran home, but were taken shortly before 7:45 p.m. by Hempstead Town animal control, which will help to determine the fate of the dogs, police said.

No one was hurt by the pit bulls in Uniondale, police said.

Insp. Kenneth Lack said police do not think these pit bulls are the same two that attacked four people in Lakeview on Tuesday, setting off a hunt and door-to-door canvassing by Fourth Precinct and emergency service officers.

He said the two communities are too far apart for the pit bulls to be the same.

In Lakeview on Tuesday, two pit bulls -- one black, the other brown -- attacked a boy, 16, and three women, ages 54, 24 and 29, between 6:30 p.m. and 7:01 p.m. In the two most serious cases, one woman had wounds to her face, arms and shoulder, while the other woman suffered injuries to an arm and a leg, police said.

Friday evening in Uniondale, Cynthia McManus, who lives on Nostrand Avenue, said an officer knocked on her door shortly after she got home about 6:30 p.m. Overhead, a helicopter flew and there were several police cars a block away, she said.

"He wanted to know if everybody was OK, because they had to shoot at the pit bull and they were making sure that no bullets went toward the homes, I guess," she said.

McManus said her mother lives in Lakeview, and, after the dog attacks there, she had told her mother to refrain from taking walks.

McManus said she's afraid of dogs, because some relatives have been bitten by them, but Friday night she was safe in her home and not worried about the roaming pit bulls: "It's on the outside, and it's not like a burglar. I'm fine."